Grounded: Book 1 in "The Windy City Neighborhood Series" by Neta Jackson & Dave Jackson

 Heartwarming!

Overview

Grounded

...But Hope May Be Just Across the Street

Grace Meredith is a beloved contemporary Christian recording artist whose career—and personal life—hits unexpected turbulence. She feels grounded—in more ways than one.

Grace's fiancé, bothered by her outspoken stance on purity and her near-constant travel, has broken off their relationship. Exhausted and unable to continue her current concert schedule, Grace returns home to Chicago, where she is soon stranded in a major snowstorm. Facing new questions about her future and her faith, Grace finds herself connecting for the first time with the residents of her neighborhood. What she discovers in these unexpected relationships could change everything.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

The first in the Windy City Neighbors series, Grounded is an uplifting, contemporary story about ordinary people wrestling with the spiritual and practical issues of real life. The series employs the innovative storytelling technique of “parallel novels,” each with its own drama and story arc, but whose characters' lives become intertwined and affect one another. Grounded welcomes you to Beecham Street— a typical, isolated American neighborhood that might just be a place of hope.

dAVE & nETA jACKSON

Husband and wife writing team, Dave and Neta Jackson are authors and/or coauthors of more than one hundred books which have sold in excess of 2.5 million copies. They are best known for Neta’s award-winning Yada Yada series and their Trailblazer Books – a 40-volume series. They live in the Chicago metropolitan area, where Grounded is set.

My Review ~

Grace Meredith has a successful career singing contemporary Christian music. On tour doing her New Year, New You theme for young people, encouraging them to wait for marriage before involvement in intimacy, Grace encounters life-changing experiences. She had hoped her fiance would join her for her last night on tour, to support her in her singing career and her ministry to young people across the country. What she got instead was a broken engagement and disappointment. Although struggling with a sore throat and grief over her broken engagement, Grace forces herself to fulfill her commitment, only to meet with more trauma upon heading home to Chicago. Grace feels like a fraud, encouraging purity to young people and yet carrying a secret that consumed her. Those secrets from her past weighed heavily upon her during a lengthy recuperation from a virus affecting her throat, and the stress accompanying it.

In this first book of a series called Windy City Neighbors, much is revealed regarding secrets held within, and accepting gifts freely given from relative strangers, and from our heavenly Father. Learning to let go and forgive one's self is a strong theme in this story of finding faith in difficult times. God's gift of forgiveness comes freely, but forgiving ourselves can be far more overwhelming. As Grace is encouraged to "think" about her name, she discovers that grace is a gift that comes with no strings attached. Grace is what brings us through times of trouble and gifts us with freedom from our past sins.

I enjoyed this warmhearted story of discernment, forgiveness not only of others, but forgiveness of self, and learning to accept the gift of grace that is offered freely when our hearts are open to receiving it. In our fast-paced lives we tend to spend less time increasing growth in our faith lives, and the authors of Grounded have presented positive examples of renewing our spiritual lives through time spent in the Word, in prayer and through grace. 

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by Wynn-Wynn Media in return for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own, and I received no monetary compensation for this review.